


Shadows and Flames

by kayisdreaming



Series: Odin Sphere Ficlets [9]
Category: Odin Sphere
Genre: F/M, Ragnarok, Spoilers, wanted to try some tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-07
Updated: 2018-10-07
Packaged: 2019-07-27 12:16:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16218860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kayisdreaming/pseuds/kayisdreaming
Summary: What if it wasn't just one person who could fight the bosses of Ragnarok? Onyx swore he'd tell Gwendolyn what had happened to her husband--but in the game, she is off fighting someone else. BUT WHAT IF she was just late getting to the Onyx fight?





	Shadows and Flames

**Author's Note:**

> I have been writing too many cute Odin Sphere things. Time to do my actual specialty: tragedy.

In one corner of the world, spirits stole away those of the living, dragging them to the dark depths of the Netherworld. In another, the earth was being ravaged, even the mountains crumbling into the sea. Not far, a great beast was devouring anything in its way.

Here, here everything was being reduced to little but ash.  The inferno had long since ceased its rage, charcoal and ash not enough to fuel it. Small flames littered the battlefield, thriving more upon the bodies of fallen Vulcans than the remains of the forest. The land, flattened by the intense heat, only bore scars of the battle between two beasts.

On this battlefield, one beast became an entirely different monster. The other laughed, turned on its heel, and left with his few remaining forces, to claim what was not yet ash.

~~

“Poor girl . . . all this soot has ruined your perfect skin.”

Gwendolyn ignored his complement, the words useless in easing her worries for her husband. Nor did they help this growing concern for the land that was now ablaze. She turned away from him. Oswald had certainly come this way, but he was nowhere to be seen. Had he seen the flames and determined that there was no other way to continue? Perhaps he had turned around and returned to their home. Or, more likely, there was a more prevalent threat—one that he was determined to handle first.

Unless . . . “Why have you come here?”

From the corner of her eye, she could see Onyx’s expression shift. “Can’t you hear the tremors?” He asked. “Our land is beneath the sea. We have nowhere to go. But we shall take this world from the humans and rule it.”

She glanced at him. He was uninjured, which meant that Oswald could not have been here. Surely Onyx would not be so humble as to hide his motives from her husband. And Oswald, despite his reputation, would not have allowed such a thing to happen.

“If flames rule the world, ‘tis as bad as sinking.” She retorted. Either way, the sea would not let anything live, and the flame would certainly do everything to annihilate Oswald. She turned to face him. At the very least, one of those things she could manage. “I must prevent it.”

One of the Vulcan’s sneered at her. “Look at her talk.”

Gwendolyn barely spared a glance; her pride would not allow her to be mocked, but it was not as if these creatures were capable of damaging it in the first place.

“Come, Gwendolyn, we needn’t be enemies.” Onyx smiled, arms spread wide. “You could be my queen.”

Gwendolyn frowned, grip tightening around her spear. “I decline.”

The smile widened. “Even if I have relieved you of the one burden that would prevent it?”

She could feel her throat go dry, her attention fully upon him now. “What do you mean?”

“The Shadow Knight is no more.” Onyx’s hands returned to his hips, head held high and expression smug. “You are free to be mine.”

Gwendolyn narrowed her eyes. It was impossible. She knew that Onyx and Oswald had fought before, and that Onyx did not fare well against the blade. If they had fought once more, then it would be Onyx who had fallen, not Oswald. “You lie.”

“Harsh words from such a lovely face.” Onyx shrugged slightly, shaking his head. “You should know he was little threat. His soul was devoured, left only to shadow. I am sure you have fought his kin before. Pathetic ends for pathetic creatures.”

“Stop it.” Gwendolyn couldn’t recognize the shiver that tinged the end of her words. It was impossible. Yes, she knew the fate that eventually awaited those who abused that blade. But Oswald was different. He knew the limits of his abilities. He knew that he needn’t die for one who simply demanded it. He knew Gwendolyn was waiting for him. He would not die, not now.

“You don’t need to mourn that man.” Onyx said, stepping closer. He reached out to her, the heat of his hand so close. “My love burns far hotter than his.”

The pain of the heat brought Gwendolyn back to attention. She struck out at him, spear slicing down his arm and hand. “I have heard enough.”

Onyx’s gaze darkened. His arms pulsed with a deep red, the air around them warping with the intense heat. “You could never love me . . .” He muttered. His form began to pull apart, warping into something large and terrifying.

Gwendolyn took a small step back, eyes widening. Now, now she could see how Oswald could lose—if such a thing was indeed true. The heat hurt just from her current proximity and could easily become overwhelming if he was even only a step nearer.

But, if she wanted to prove this a lie and find her husband once more, she would have to fight this creature. And if she wanted to survive, she would need to win.

~~

“Lord Onyx!” A Vulcan cried out, hovering unevenly over the ground as she moved closer.

“My orders were clear,” Onyx’s voice cracked as he pulled his Valkyrie closer, wincing as her skin blackened the closer she was, “leave my sight.”

“My Lord . . .” The Vulcan’s distance from the ground diminished rapidly, causing her legs to crumble upon contact. Onyx’s gaze flicked up, in just enough time to see the Vulcan crumble further—up her torso and along her arms. “’Tis the Shadow.”

Onyx looked past the fallen warrior, seeing a long trail of remnants past. Between them all was the culprit. His shadowed form showed no damage. His teeth gnashed as his eyes glowed with the hollow reflection of any emotion that may once have been. Between his claws, another Vulcan crumbled to nothingness.

“You are . . . frustratingly persistent.” Onyx snarled, though it bore hardly any of the energy of their earlier encounter. He shifted, rising to his feet. He held Gwendolyn firmly in his arms, even though it clearly was a disadvantage. “You do not even know what you yearn for!”

The Revenant inched closer, claws twitching as it clenched and unclenched its hands. A strained and painful noise rode upon its exhale. Its eyes, as unfocused as they seemed by the creature’s very form, clearly looked upon the fallen Valkyrie. It was as if Onyx was never there.

“You may not,” Onyx frowned in what was a hollow imitation of his typical contempt for his rival, his form crackling as the lava that made up his body pressed through his arms, “take what you have never deserved.”

Onyx froze at the sound of Gwendolyn’s feathers burning to nothing, at the edges of her skirt burning away. His transformation halted, and he returned to the form that she had been the most familiar with. It was not as if his form could truly bear such a transformation again—no longer did he have the heart to bear the rage that fueled it.

It was just as possible that such an action would destroy everything, including himself. But he could not yet destroy her even more than he already had.

Which meant that his spiteful patience had served no purpose to earn him a fight when his heart could no longer endure it. Still, he shifted Gwendolyn to hold her in one arm, and allowed the flames to consume his other hand, determined that this beast would not take her from him again.

~

When the battle ended, the Revenant hovered over and past the crumbled stones, looking down upon the lifeless body of the winged warrior. She was not alive, and so the Revenant could feel no desire to obliterate her, as its nature was wont to command. Somewhere, an urge deep within it pressed for more—demanded it.

The Revenant reached down, pulling up the woman in between its claws. Her skin split where the claws touched, but there was no other way for it to hold her. Would, perhaps, the pain wake her?

Something foreign stirred within it when there was no response. No breaths, no movements, nothing. Just to be relieved of this sensation, the creature wanted to destroy everything, to see an end to all.

But the world was already crumbling around it. The ocean had risen close, the earth crumbling more and more into it. There was no life nearby to destroy. There was nothing. Nothing but it the woman before it. It could fulfill its nature by crushing her till there was nothing left. But it couldn’t. Something deep within it resisted, refused. Nothing would allow it to destroy her. Nothing would allow it to destroy itself.

And so, it would be the two of them until the end of the world.

It pulled her closer to itself, feeling a single word reverberate in its core.

“Gwen . . . do . . . lyn . . .”

 

 


End file.
